


The Slippery Slope (drabbles and shorts)

by monimala



Series: The Slippery Slope [3]
Category: General Hospital
Genre: Drabble Collection, Gap Filler, Multi, Shorts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-30 10:55:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10875318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monimala/pseuds/monimala
Summary: A collection of shorter stories in my J/K/E ménageverse.





	1. Safekeeping

They protect Kristina instinctively. Silent agreements made with shared glances over her head, hushed discussions over a couple of beers. "She's a sweet kid," Johnny says. "She deserves better," Ethan murmurs. They tiptoe around her father's crimes, pretend they don't routinely take out his thugs. They talk about movies and school and therapy and what she wants to be when she grows up… which only makes her roll her eyes and scoff, "Like *you're* so old?"

They shield her as much as they can. Except when she's lying between them in bed, naked and willing and beautiful. The one thing Johnny and Ethan can't do is save her from *them*. Because they're selfish that way: wanting to trace the curve of her hip, inhale the scent of her skin, and feel her innocence brush against their cynicism.

She's a sweet kid who deserves better.

And she's been guarding their hearts.


	2. I could hold you for a million years

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place a few days after the events of Feb. 24 and 25, 2011.

"I'm gonna marry you someday." She repeats the words days later, when they're tangled together in the dark. Her cheek is once again nestled against his broad chest, this time skin-to-skin instead of cushioned against the soft material of his dress shirt. His rumbling laugh is the same as it was at the reception… but his palm skating up and down her bare back tells her that he might actually believe her.

"Don't think about 'someday,' sweetheart," he urges. "Just be in the now. With me."

They cling to each other --his mouth brushing over her hair, her legs cradled between his-- trying to block out the remnants of fire and noise. Things always seem to combust when they're together. Things. Cars. Her life. And she doesn't know any other way to heal from an explosion than in his arms. She can hear her mother bustling around downstairs… taking care of Molly, calling the hospital again to check on Sam, who *made* them all go home for a while. Krissy tried not to call Ethan. She really did. But her fingers moved over the keypad of their own volition, hitting the speed dial. "I need you," was all she had to say. He climbed up the trellis to her window, like he and Johnny did a dozen times last year… when things were simple, playful… okay, a little fucked up… but it worked.

Now it's just them. Johnny's gone. Lost. All they have is each other. All they're *ever* going to have is each other. And she's determined to look out for Ethan, just like he always does for her. They reach for protection at the same time, his big hand closing around her smaller one. He smiles gently and calls her "sweetheart," again. They tear open the foil together, and he helps her guide the condom over him. Then, he slowly comes into her, making love to her as if she's this precious, fragile thing. And maybe tonight she is. She is just a little bit breakable. Sobbing into his neck. Putting out the flames with tears. Whispering "I love you" even though he's totally not ready to hear it.

Someday she's going to marry him.

Someday they'll be far, far from Port Charles… in a place where it's safe to have a family. To have a dream.

Until then, they have this. A few stolen moments of peace.

\--end--

February 26, 2011


	3. Put your tiny hand in mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Filler for the May 19, 2011 episode. 
> 
> Ethan knows the split second that Kristina isn't "their" girl anymore.

Johnny is his best friend. Hell, he's *more* than that. He's his partner in practically everything. There's nothing they don't share. And Ethan knows the split second that Kristina isn't "their" girl anymore. He can break it down to the fucking atomic level: that moment where she's just his and only his. Johnny looks at him, with that smug expression and those hard eyes, and goes on about how Kristina lied, how she *let* herself be beat up. And it's Ethan, in that second, who takes a huge hit. He doesn't know how he stays standing. How he keeps from knocking Johnny to the ground and pounding his face into unrecognizable meat.

*"I know you got a soft spot for Kristina, alright. So do I."* No you don't, you son of a bitch, he thinks, listening to Johnny's twisted rationale about Claudia and Lisa with half an ear and no pieces of his heart.

He lets Johnny have his say and then acknowledges that maybe, just *maybe*, Kristina is pulling one over on him and it's best to figure that out before he goes running around half-cocked. Ethan's practical that way. He likes to have all the facts. See all the sides. Even if he already knows what side he's on.

When their little chat is done, he still wants to slug Johnny. Or grab his face between his palms and kiss his cheeks… play their little two-man Mafia fantasy to the end. Ultimately, Ethan doesn't do either thing. He just leaves without giving him a backward glance or a second thought. Johnny's irrelevant now. Now. Forever. 

He goes back to Kristina and gets his answers. His answers, and his truths. He stares at her across the table at Kelly's, takes her hand when she offers it, and he thinks, "You're mine to protect. Just mine. And I will never let anyone hurt you." 

It's like unlocking a door and standing on the threshold. He can break it down to the fucking atomic level: that moment where she's just his and only his. 

It's when she smiles. It's when she looks at him. It's when she trusts him. It's when she leans her head on his shoulder during a long, dark night. It's when she says, "I'm gonna marry you some day," and he totally believes her.

Johnny is -- *was* -- his best friend. Kristina is the blood in his veins.

 

\--end--

 

May 20, 2011


	4. "Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Filler/tag fic for the 9/12/11 scenes where Johnny taunts Sonny and Sonny pulls a gun on him.

Long after he stops tasting gunmetal and cold sweat — when he's sprawled on the couch with a double shot of bourbon, feigning nonchalance — he replays it all. But it's not Sonny’s garbled, meaningless, threats of violence that he hears. No, it's his own voice echoing in his head: the arrogance, the cruelty, and the note of promise in “I could’ve screwed her sweet, little, teenaged brains out.”

The words are rank, ugly, like ashes left too long in the fireplace. He’d like to think they're beneath him, but he knows better. In the heat of the moment, he *loved* crafting such a crass image for Sonny, knowing he got under that son of a bitch’s skin. He loved it even *more* knowing that it was true. He could’ve had Kristina a dozen different ways, riding her desire to give a giant “fuck you” to her daddy till she was begging for more.

The ways he *did* have her…well, that's as far from what he said to Sonny as you can get. They laughed through so much of it. That's what he remembers most clearly: laughing when she played a discordant octave with the backs of her thighs as he pressed her against the piano and kissed the corner of her smile. Cracking up every time Ethan nobly tried to pretend he and Krissy aren't two dumb kids in love…which is *still* laughable all these months later. And he will never forget losing his shit entirely when Kristina tried to strip for them…coming out of his bedroom in something that should've *stayed* Victoria's secret. "Oh, baby, it's okay," he'd whispered, when her pretty face fell. "It's okay to just be who you are, because that girl is beautiful. *That* girl is special."

All of Sonny's kids could stand to hear a variation of that mantra, but Johnny gave it to Kristina. With nothing but good intentions. What they got up to last summer was crazy, and irresponsible, but it was honest between them. Honest and pure. That's something Sonny Corinthos will never understand, because all he knows is filth and dirt and the worst possible ending to every story.

*“I could’ve screwed her sweet, little, teenaged brains out.”*

Only he didn't. He couldn't. Not ever.

Being with Kristina only screwed one person out of a vital organ.

And it's okay.

A Zacchara never really needs his heart anyway.

 

\--end--

September 12, 2011


End file.
